Travel – Being a tourist in our own backyard.

Travel is one of the things we love to do but sometimes like everyone we forget to look close to home. For many years we have seen highlights of the Jumpers and Jazz Festival in Warwick, a town about 90 mins travel from our place. Every year we say ” we should go to that”. Well this year we did and had a fantastic time.

What is Jumpers and Jazz?  The festival was initially created as a positive community response to a major CBD streetscaping project of Warwick by the local council. It was a fun way to bring in tourists and increase particapation in the arts. Now lots of groups create some beautiful trees in the main street.

As well as all the amazing trees, they have lots of Jazz performers up and down the street. On the weekends there are a couple of stages set up with performances most of the day.

Everyone can join in the fun with a full programme including many classes where you can try all sorts of craft. One of the many activities available was the heritage train rides. Ron has always loved trains especially the old ones so this was a must do on our travel list. The only one with tickets available was on the Friday night. We started with drinks and nibbles on the station platform and watched as the train arrived at the station. Once on board we settled in for a ride to Hendon and back, about 90 mins. While enjoying the ride we were entertained by a couple of singers playing some great music. We also had one of the volunteers telling us all the highlights and about the trains history.